Sustaining a Mars Colony through Integration of Single-cell Protein and Oil Production in Food Supply Chains

CONECT 2023: XVI International Scientific Conference of Environmental and Climate Technologies: Book of Abstracts 2023
Krišs Spalviņš, Zane Kušnere, Svetlana Raita, Indra Bērziņa, Linda Feldmane, Taras Mika

As humanity sets its sights on establishing a sustainable and prosperous colony on Mars, one of the key challenges to overcome is ensuring a reliable and nutritious food supply for settlers. While various solutions for food production on Mars have been proposed, there is a growing interest in the use of microorganisms as a means of producing essential nutrients. This review article highlights the advantages of utilizing single-cell protein and single-cell oil technologies to produce essential amino acids and fatty acids for the food supply chains of a Mars colony. We provide an analysis of the potential benefits, challenges and limitations of these solutions and outline the necessary steps to be taken in order to successfully integrate them into the infrastructure of a Martian settlement.

Keywords
Biotechnology; food production; life support systems; Mars colonization; microorganisms; single-cell protein, single-cell oil; space agriculture; sustainability
DOI
10.7250/CONECT.2023.072
Hyperlink
https://journals.rtu.lv/index.php/conect/article/view/CONECT.2023.072

Spalviņš, K., Kušnere, Z., Raita, S., Bērziņa, I., Feldmane, L., Mika, T. Sustaining a Mars Colony through Integration of Single-cell Protein and Oil Production in Food Supply Chains. In: CONECT 2023: XVI International Scientific Conference of Environmental and Climate Technologies: Book of Abstracts, Latvia, Riga, 10-12 May, 2023. Riga: Riga Technical University, 2023, pp.96-96. ISBN 978-9934-22-898-8. e-ISBN 978-9934-22-899-5. ISSN 2592-9704. Available from: doi:10.7250/CONECT.2023.072

Publication language
English (en)